Some variables affecting changes in interpersonal attraction

An expectancy theory of attraction predicts changes in attraction as a result of disconfirmations of a person's expectancies about another's rewarding behavior. Attitude similarity and normative pressures are interpreted as cues eliciting positive or negative reward expectations. In a test of expectancy theory an experiment employing a 2 × 2 × 2 design was carried out. Subjects requested or did not request help from a similar or dissimilar confederate, who either did or did not provide help. A three-way interaction of these factors on changes in attraction from pre- to postinteraction revealed in general that increments of attraction following help were greater in the Dissimilar conditions and the decrements following no help were greater in the Similar conditions. Furthermore, the greatest decrement in attraction occurred when a similar confederate did not provide help after it had been requested. Secondary findings regarding the predictability of the confederate and the degree of altruism attributed to her supported the assumptions of expectancy theory.     

Some variables affecting dentists' assessment of patients' distress

Dental students estimated the pain distress and discomfort of their patients after patients received a Class II restoration (simple filing). Dentist's estimates of patient pain accounted for 36% of the variance in patient self-report responses. Dentist accuracy was significantly lower, however, for estimates of anxiety and distress. Dentist accuracy was unaffected by patient's degree of self-monitoring. There was a tendency for female dentists to demonstrate greater accuracy than male dentists, but this effect was nonsignificant. In addition, dentists' accuracy in assessing overall patient discomfort was significantly lower in that segment of the treatment procedure that was most stressful for the dentists. This article discusses theoretical explanations for this latter effect.     

Some variables affecting the superstitious chaining of responses

This study was based upon a repeated acquisition technique that systematically generated superstitious chains of responses. Several procedures were investigated in an effort to modify the amount of superstitious chaining. The effects of a large work requirement, a stimulus correlated with non-reinforcement after inappropriate responses, an equivalent time delay after inappropriate responses, and extensive training were examined. The presentation of a stimulus correlated with non-reinforcement was found to be the most effective technique for reducing superstitious chaining; the time delay was the least effective.     

Distal cues and latent extinction

The Psychological Record - The hypothesis was tested that the failure of Bugelski et al (1952) to obtain latent extinction effects in a “replication” of Seward and Levy’s (1949)...     

Some variables affecting children's compliance with instructions

Children were given instructions to perform different tasks. Compliance was studied as a function of several variables: the prevailing pattern of reinforcement for different instructions, the availability of a competing reinforced activity, and the similarity among tasks. Rate of compliance tended to decrease when the probability of reinforcement for compliance decreased, or when a competing reinforced activity was available. Differential reinforcement over the tasks did not always produce discriminative responding even under favorable conditions. Novel instructions obtained compliance at the same rate as that for frequently repeated instructions, independent of the novel instruction's past or present reinforcement history. Greater discrimination in responding was found when tasks were less similar. Results imply that sets of instructions may form a response class, with characteristics similar to those found in studies of generalized imitation.     

Effect of effort and latent extinction on resistance to extinction

Sixty-four male Wistar rats were given acquisition training in an enclosed straight-alley runway which could be adjusted for angles of inclination. The 2×2×2 design involved two angles of inclination in acquisition (0° and 40°) and two angles of inclination in extinction (0° and 40°). Between acquisition and extinction, half the subjects were exposed to a latent extinction procedure and half served as controls. Number of responses in a 30-min extinction session was an inverse function of effort required in extinction. Additionally, latent extinction procedures resulted in reduced resistance to extinction, but only when the effort conditions of acquisition and extinction were constant. When the effort conditions of acquisition and extinction were dissimilar, latent extinction procedures resulted in increased resistance to extinction. The results raise questions about the nature of the learning which occurs during latent extinction training.     

The theoretical status of latent variables

This article examines the theoretical status of latent variables as used in modern test theory models. First, it is argued that a consistent interpretation of such models requires a realist ontology for latent variables. Second, the relation between latent variables and their indicators is discussed. It is maintained that this relation can be interpreted as a causal one but that in measurement models for interindividual differences the relation does not apply to the level of the individual person. To substantiate intraindividual causal conclusions, one must explicitly represent individual level processes in the measurement model. Several research strategies that may be useful in this respect are discussed, and a typology of constructs is proposed on the basis of this analysis. The need to link individual processes to latent variable models for interindividual differences is emphasized.     

Linear structural equations with latent variables

An interdependent multivariate linear relations model based on manifest, measured variables as well as unmeasured and unmeasurable latent variables is developed. The latent variables include primary or residual common factors of any order as well as unique factors. The model has a simpler parametric structure than previous models, but it is designed to accommodate a wider range of applications via its structural equations, mean structure, covariance structure, and constraints on parameters. The parameters of the model may be estimated by gradient and quasi-Newton methods, or a Gauss-Newton algorithm that obtains least-squares, generalized least-squares, or maximum likelihood estimates. Large sample standard errors and goodness of fit tests are provided. The approach is illustrated by a test theory model and a longitudinal study of intelligence.This investigation was supported in part by a Research Scientist Development Award (KO2-DA00017) and a research grant (DA01070) from the U. S. Public Health Service.     

Some variables affecting rate of key pecking during response-independent procedures (autoshaping)

Rate of key pecking by pigeons subjected to response-independent procedures in which a stimulus on the response key preceded food presentation was investigated in eight experiments. Color and shape of the stimulus, duration of the stimulus, probability of food following the stimulus, duration of the intertrial interval, and duration of food presentation were varied separately and in combination. All variables studied, except color and shape of the stimulus, had a reliable effect on pecking rate, but some variables had stronger effects than others. Rapid key pecking may be obtained with a variety of response-independent procedures, as well as by response-dependent reinforcement. The results of experiments in which food is both dependent on key pecking and correlated with stimulus conditions are not representative of simple operant effects. Key pecking is an ideal response for studying the simultaneous operation of response-reinforcer and stimulus-reinforcer effects.     

D-Cycloserine enhances memory consolidation of hippocampus-dependent latent extinction

Adult male Long-Evans rats were trained to run in a straight-alley maze for food reward and subsequently received hippocampus-dependent latent extinction training. Immediately following latent extinction, rats received peripheral injections of the NMDA receptor partial agonist D-cycloserine (DCS, 15 mg/kg), or saline. Twenty-four hours later, rats received four extinction "probe" trials. Relative to saline controls, latencies to reach the goal box on probe trials were significantly higher in rats that had received DCS. These findings indicate that memory consolidation underlying hippocampus-dependent latent extinction, a cognitive form of learning in which the previously rewarded response is not made during extinction training, can be enhanced by NMDA-receptor agonism.     

Extending latent class solutions to other variables

A procedure is derived for estimating the latent parameters of items not initially included in a latent class solution, on the assumption that the relations between those additional items and the original ones are accounted for by the same latent structure. A chi-square test is proposed for evaluating the relatedness of the additional items to the latent structure. The extension is generalized to associate continuous outside variables with the original solution, and this is accompanied by the suggestion that a simple analysis of variance be used to assess the results. Finally, this latent structure extension is compared with the Dwyer extension of factor analysis.I am grateful to J. J. Mellinger for clarifying discussions of the statistical portions of this paper.Opinions expressed herein are the author's, not the Army's.     

Interpersonal variables affecting attributions of defensiveness

Two studies explored interpersonal factors influencing attributions of defensiveness. In Experiment 1, 22 pairs of undergraduate participants interviewed one another regarding their “worst failure.” Participants’ self- and other-attributions of defensiveness following the interview did not differ significantly, indicating the absence of a self-serving bias. In Experiment 2, 48 participants, assigned to one of three conditions, were interviewed by the experimenter about their “worst failure.” Those who received “extremely defensive” ratings from a fictitious psychologist produced significantly higher self-ratings of defensiveness (p<.0001) than did participants who simply completed self-ratings following the interview or who watched a videotape of the interview prior to completing self-ratings of their interview behavior. A new model of psychological defense is presented, which can account for these results.     

A general class of latent variable models for ordinal manifest variables with covariate effects on the manifest and latent variables

Previous work on a general class of multidimensional latent variable models for analysing ordinal manifest variables is extended here to allow for direct covariate effects on the manifest ordinal variables and covariate effects on the latent variables. A full maximum likelihood estimation method is used to estimate all the model parameters simultaneously. Goodness‐of‐fit statistics and standard errors are discussed. Two examples from the 1996 British Social Attitudes Survey are used to illustrate the methodology.     

Randomization-based inference about latent variables from complex samples

Standard procedures for drawing inferences from complex samples do not apply when the variable of interest cannot be observed directly, but must be inferred from the values of secondary random variables that depend on stochastically. Examples are proficiency variables in item response models and class memberships in latent class models. Rubin's multiple imputation techniques yield approximations of sample statistics that would have been obtained, had been observable, and associated variance estimates that account for uncertainty due to both the sampling of respondents and the latent nature of. The approach is illustrated with data from the National Assessment for Educational Progress.This research was supported by Grant No. NIE-G-83-0011 of the Office for Educational Research and Improvement, Center for Education Statistics, and Contract No. N00014-88-K-0304, R&T 4421552 from the Cognitive Sciences Program, Cognitive and Neural Sciences Division, Office of Naval Research. It does not necessarily reflect the views of either agency. I am grateful to R. Darrell Bock for calling my attention to the applicability of multiple imputation to the assessment setting; to Albert Beaton and Eugene Johnson for enlightening discussions on the topic; and to Henry Braun, Ben King, Debra Kline, Gary Phillips, Paul Rosenbaum, Don Rubin, John Tukey, Ming-Mei Wang, Kentaro Yamamoto, Rebecca Zwick, and two anonymous reviewers for comments on earlier drafts. Example 4 is based on the analysis of the 1984 National Assessment for Educational Progress reading survey, carried out at Educational Testing Service through the tireless efforts of too many people to mention by name, under the direction of Albert Beaton, Director of NAEP Data Analyses. David Freund, Bruce Kaplan, and Jennifer Nelson conducted additional analyses of the 1984 and 1988 data for the example.