A rationale for the measurement of traits in individuals

Hypotheses presented in a previous paper conceive of an individual's position on an attitude scale as represented by a mean position (status score) and a sigma (dispersion score). The testing of these hypotheses requires a determination of these two scores for each individual. A rationale is presented here for the determination of these two scores for an individual from his forced choice responses to pairs of items of nearly equal scale value.This study was made possible by the Bureau of Psychological Services, Institute for Human Adjustment, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studies, University of Michigan.     

Effects of experience on preference between forced and free choice

Preference between forced choice and free choice in concurrent-chain schedules of reinforcement was investigated in pigeons after exposure to particular combinations of terminal links. In Experiment 1, in which terminal links always ended with reinforcers, one of three pairs of terminal links was arranged as preexposure: (a) both terminal links had only one key (forced choice), (b) both terminal links had two keys (free choice), or (c) a combination of forced and free choice was arranged across sessions. In test sessions following the preexposure, pigeons' preferences rapidly shifted to the terminal links with which they had no recent experience. In Experiment 2, the same procedure was repeated except that each terminal link ended intermittently with reinforcers with a probability of .5 and there was no terminal-link arrangement with a combination of free and forced choice. Pigeons showed the same preference changes as in Experiment 1, but the preference changes did not appear immediately at the beginning of test sessions. These data suggest that recent previous experience was a more important determinant of preference than the difference between forced-choice and free-choice terminal links.     

Development of a Projective Measure of Perceived Locus of Control

A procedure for evaluating the internal-external (I-E) control dimension from TAT narratives was developed. Internally and externally oriented Ss, as defined by scores on the forced choice I-E scale, differed significantly in the expected direction in TAT ratings of experienced control. Scores on the projective instrument correlated significantly with scores on the questionnaire, and with the former technique it was possible correctly to categorize 80% of Ss according to I-E scale scores. The newly devised instrument demonstrated adequate discriminant validity.     

Pigeons' preference for free choice: number of keys versus key area.

In concurrent-chains schedules, pigeons prefer terminal links that provide two keys correlated with reinforcers (free choice) over those that provide only one key (forced choice), terminal-link reinforcement rates being equal. With same-size keys, free choice provides a larger area available for pecking. Preferences were examined using terminal links that differed in key number only (one or two) or key size only (small and medium or medium and large), or that equated the area of the two free-choice keys with that of the forced-choice key. Medium (standard) keys were typically preferred to small keys, but indifference was typically obtained between medium and large keys. The size preference usually overrode free-choice preference with one medium key pitted against two small keys, but free-choice preference was reliably observed with one large key pitted against two medium keys. In other words, preferences were a joint function of key number and key area, implying that free-choice preference is not reducible to preference for larger key areas. Free-choice preference requires separate keys rather than larger areas; the relevant behavioral units are the discriminated operants correlated with each terminal-link key rather than classes defined by topographical features such as area or perimeter.     

Choice behavior in transition: development of preference for the higher probability of reinforcement.

Ten acquisition curves were obtained from each of 4 pigeons in a two-choice discrete-trial procedure. In each of these 10 conditions, the two response keys initially had equal probabilities of reinforcement, and subjects' choice responses were about equally divided between the two keys. Then the reinforcement probabilities were changed so that one key had a higher probability of reinforcement (the left key in half of the conditions and the right key in the other half), and in nearly every case the subjects developed a preference for this key. The rate of acquisition of preference for this key was faster when the ratio of the two reinforcement probabilities was higher. For instance, acquisition of preference was faster in conditions with reinforcement probabilities of .12 and .02 than in conditions with reinforcement probabilities of .40 and .30, even though the pairs of probabilities differed by .10 in both cases. These results were used to evaluate the predictions of some theories of transitional behavior in choice situations. A trial-by-trial analysis of individual responses and reinforcers suggested that reinforcement had both short-term and long-term effects on choice. The short-term effect was an increased probability of returning to the same key on the one or two trials following a reinforcer. The long-term effect was a gradual increase in the proportion of responses on the key with the higher probability of reinforcement, an increase that usually continued for several hundred trials.     

Rapid determinations of preference in multiple concurrent-chain schedules.

With concurrent chains arranged for a pigeon's key pecks, pecks on two concurrently available initial-link keys (left and right) respectively produce separately operating terminal links (A and B). Preferences for terminal link A over terminal link B are usually calculated as deviations of relative initial-link response rates (left divided by total pecks) from those during baseline conditions, when A equals B. Baseline preferences, however, are often variable and typically are determined indirectly (e.g., with unequal A and B, reversing left-right assignments of A and B over sessions and estimating the baseline from differences between the relative rates generated). Multiple concurrent-chain schedules, with components each consisting of a pair of concurrent chains, speed the determination of preferences by arranging A and B and their reversal within sessions. In two experiments illustrating the feasibility of this procedure, one component operated with circles projected on initial-link keys and the other with pluses; when left and right initial-link pecks respectively produced terminal links A and B in one component, they produced B and A in the other. Even as the baselines fluctuated, preference was observable within sessions as the difference between relative initial-link response rates in the two components. The first experiment demonstrated the rapid development of preferences when terminal links A and B consisted of fixed-interval 15-s and 30-s schedules. The second demonstrated the sensitivity of the procedure to preference for a fixed-interval 30-s schedule operating for pecks on either of two keys (free choice) over its operating for pecks on only a single key (forced choice).     

Freedom and knowledge: an experimental analysis of preference in pigeons

Relative responding in initial links of concurrent-chain schedules showed that pigeons preferred free to forced choices and informative to uninformative stimuli. Variable-interval initial links on two lower keys (white) of a six-key chamber produced terminal links on either two upper-left keys (blue and/or amber) or two upper-right keys (green and/or red). Terminal.links in which pecks on either of two lit keys produced fixed-interval reinforcement (free choice) were preferred to links with only one lit fixed-interval key available (forced choice). Terminal links with different key colors correlated with concurrent fixed-interval reinforcement and extinction (informative stimuli) were preferred to links with these schedules operating on same-color keys (uninformative stimuli). Scheduling extinction for one of the two free-choice keys assessed preference for two lit keys over one lit key, but confounded number with whether stimuli were informative. Fixed-interval reinforcement for both keys in each terminal link, but with different-color keys in one link and same-color keys in the other, showed that preference for informative stimuli did not depend on stimulus variety. Preferences were independent of relative responses per reinforcement and other properties of terminal-link performance.     

Comparing Personality Test Formats and Warnings: Effects on criterion‐related validity and test‐taker reactions

The potential for applicant response distortion on personality measures remains a major concern in high‐stakes testing situations. Many approaches to understanding response distortion are too transparent (e.g., instructed faking studies) – or are too subtle (e.g., correlations with social desirability measures as indices of faking). Recent research reveals more promising approaches in two methods: using forced‐choice (FC) personality test items and warning against faking. The present study examined effects of these two methods on criterion‐related validity and test‐taker reactions. Results supported incremental validity for an FC and Likert‐scale measure in warning and no‐warning conditions, above and beyond cognitive ability. No clear differences emerged between the FC vs Likert measures or warning vs no‐warning conditions in terms of validity. However, some evidence suggested that FC measures and warnings may produce negative test‐taker reactions. We conclude with implications for implementation in selection settings.     

Item selection by means of a maximizing function

A new item selection technique is presented which takes into account the intercorrelations of the items as well as their correlations with the criterion. The technique is regarded as superior to comparable techniques in that it is considered to achieve greater economy of time, greater objectivity of procedure, higher validity, and higher reliability. The mathematical theory underlying the method is developed. An approximate solution of the mathematical equations is suggested. An approximation procedure for the complete item selection technique is presented, based on the mathematical solution, but much simpler in procedure. The clerical operations involved in the approximation procedure are outlined and illustrated on a sample worksheet.     

Memory for two stimulus-response items in pigeons

Six pigeons served in a discrete-trial experiment on short-term memory. Combinations of three key positions and two ordinal positions, yielding six possible sequences of stimulus-response pairs, were used as lists of items. A retention interval separated list presentation from the test phase in which two (for Group 1) or three (for Group 2) keys were illuminated with either red or green light. A reinforcer was delivered if a subject pecked the key of the first item on a red trial and the key of the second item on a green trial. When the retention interval was lengthened from one to five or nine seconds, a systematic loss of stimulus control resulted. Lengthening the interval between items from one to eight seconds had a much smaller effect for the birds in Group 1, whereas a systematic loss of stimulus control was found in red trials for the birds in Group 2. The functional relations between choice accuracy and delay provided an empirical basis for analysis of what relations among temporal events can become discriminative stimuli.     

Some discriminative properties of fixed ratio performance in the pigeon

The discriminative control over a spatial choice response exercised by prior behavior was studied using a procedure involving discrete exposures to a two-member chained schedule. The initial member (red key) was either a smaller or larger fixed ratio (Mix FR:FR), the completion of which produced, after a 1-sec delay, two white response keys. If the larger FR had been completed as the initial chain member, a single peck on the right white key was reinforced; after the smaller FR, a peck on the left white key was reinforced. Frequencies of unreinforced responses (S(Delta) responses) were determined with several pairs of red-key FRs: 95-5, 75-25, 65-35, 60-40, 58-42 and 50-50. The S(Delta) response frequencies were low through the FR pair 65-35; sharp increases were obtained with pairs 60-40 and 58-42. Later, curves analogous to stimulus generalization functions were obtained using a probe procedure. Finally, the delay interval between completion of a red-key FR and the white-key choice response was manipulated: results were variable, but S(Delta) response frequencies tended to increase with increasing delays.     

Associative recognition and the list strength paradigm

When a subset of list items is strengthened, the discriminability of the nonstrengthened items is unaffected. This regularity has been dubbed the null list strength effect (LSE), and despite its many replications in item recognition, little research has investigated whether an LSE occurs in associative recognition. We conducted two experiments in which a set of pairs were studied once and a set of interference pairs were studied either once (pure-weak-list condition) or four times (mixed-list condition). Equivalent levels of performance for the nonstrengthened pairs were observed in both the pure-weak and mixed conditions using both yes–no and two-alternative forced choice testing. Additionally, equivalent false alarm rates were observed between rearranged pairs composed of weak and strong items. Both sets of results were found to be consistent with a matrix model that has no overlap among its item representations.     

Delay and number of food reinforcers: Effects on choice and latencies

Pigeons were given a choice between two identical-duration situations (terminal links of chain schedules). One terminal link of the choice pair provided two food deliveries, and the other provided five. The exact times of these food deliveries differed between the terminal links and were varied over conditions. A single response during the initial link gave immediate access to the corresponding terminal link. Forced trials, during which only one of the initial-link keys was lighted, were interspersed with choice trials during which both initial-link keys were lighted. Choice tended to favor whichever terminal link was correlated with the higher sum of the immediacies (i.e., the sum of the reciprocals of the delays to each of the reinforcers following the choice, with all delays measured from the choice). Latencies on forced trials and on choice trials also were related (negatively) to the sum of the immediacies. This correlation among response measures (choice and latencies) suggests that both measures are manifestations of the effect of conditioned reinforcement on response tendencies.     

Adventitious control by the location of comparison stimuli in conditional discriminations.

In a conditional discrimination procedure, samples appeared in a center key, and comparisons appeared in two of four outer keys. The location of comparison keys varied from trial to trial. Separate learning curves for each of the six possible pairs of comparison keys were plotted in a signal-detection space, revealing different patterns of progress on each pair. Also, when learned conditional discriminations were disrupted, pairs of keys differed in their patterns of disruption. Varying the location of comparison stimuli among six different pairs of keys had not eliminated key position as a controlling aspect of the stimuli. The variations simply increased the number of stimulus compounds--key position and experimental stimuli--that the subject learned. Plotting conditional-discrimination learning curves in a signal-detection space reveals relations among hits, false alarms, accuracy, and comparison preference that help to define a subject's progress.     

Application of Bower's one-element model to paired-associate learning by pigeons

Bower's (1961) all-or-none model of human paired-associate learning was applied to individual data supplied by three pigeons. When the center one of three keys was illuminated with red light or with three white dots in a vertical array on a black ground, pecking on the left key was reinforced. When the center key was lighted green or with a horizontal array of three white dots on a black ground, pecking on the right key was reinforced. The left and right keys were illuminated with white light. The task was considered to be analogous to learning a paired-associate list of four pairs involving four stimulus items and two response items. The model was evaluated by comparing the following model predictions with values obtained from each animal: trials-to-criterion, standard deviation of trials-to-criterion, standard deviation of errors-to-criterion, mean error runs, mean error runs of lengths one to four, and autocorrelations of errors of lags one to three. Most of the predictions based upon the model were in close agreement with the obtained data.     

LEGAL CONCERNS IN THE USE OF WEIGHTED APPLICATIONS1

The use of the standard weighted application procedure relies on strictly empirically derived keys for validity. While weighted applications are generally valid in terms of the correlation between score on the application and position on the criterion, the empirical scheme may weight items that can not be shown to be relevant to the job for which they predict. To the extent that employment decisions are based on non-job-relevant weighted applications, such decisions may be contrary to the letter or the spirit of the Civil Rights Act. Alternative methods incorporating job relevance into the weighting procedure via job analysis inject the “hand of reason” into the process. Such rational-empirical approaches ensure job-relatedness as well as validity.     

All-or-none-acquisition in matching-to-sample and a test of two models

Three pigeons learned to match three colors in a matching-to-sample procedure. The sample hue was presented on the center one of three keys, and the comparison hues were presented on the side keys. Forty responses on the center key produced the stimuli on the side keys and left the sample on the center key. A single response on the correct side key produced 3-sec access to grain, which was followed by a 25-sec intertrial interval. A correction procedure was employed when an error was committed. Before attaining asymptotic levels, there was no evidence of learning, responses were independent of the preceding response, and distributions of errors in four-trial blocks were binomial. Distributions of error runs, runs of various lengths, autocorrelations of errors of several lags, alternations of correct responses and errors, etc., were shown to fit Bower's (1961) all-or-none model better than a gradual learning model of Bush and Sternberg (1959). A transfer test employing a novel color showed only transitory degradation of performance.     

中国人敬畏特质的心理结构研究

本研究基于人格词汇学假设,探索中国人敬畏特质的心理结构。通过文献分析、专家访谈、开放式和半开放式问卷调查,建立39个词汇的敬畏特质词汇表。在此基础上,进行项目分析、探索性因素分析、验证性因素分析和信效度检验,编制了包含24个词汇的中国人敬畏特质词汇评定问卷。结果表明:(1)中国人的敬畏特质是一个包括谨慎、尊重、谦卑、欣赏的四维结构;(2)编制的中国人敬畏特质词汇评定问卷的信效度符合心理测量学的要求。     

Stuck in the Middle: The Use and Interpretation of Mid-Points in Items on Questionnaires

Likert-type scales are commonly used when assessing attitudes, personality characteristics, and other psychological variables. This study examined the effect of varying the number of response options on the same set of 28 attitudinal items. Participants answered items using either a 4-point scale (forced choice), a 5-point scale that included a “neither” mid-point, or a 4-point scale with an option of “no opinion” presented after the item. The questionnaire also included an item asking participants what they believe the midpoint in a scale indicated. As predicted, participants’ interpretations of the midpoint varied widely with the most common responses being: “no opinion,” “don't care,” “unsure,” “neutral,” “equal/both,” and “neither.” The quantitative results showed that participants’ levels of item endorsement varied based on the response options offered. For example, “neither” was chosen more often than “no opinion” on all of the items.     

The sensation seeking scale V (SSS-V): Still reliable and valid

This is a response to Gray and Wilson’s (2007) article: “A detailed analysis of the reliability and validity of the sensation seeking scale in a UK sample”. Gray and Wilson analysed the items in the four subscales of the SSS-V, using a Likert type response format and deconstructing the forced choice format of the original. However they used some anachronistic items from the old 1978 form rather than the revisions of these items in the newer form. But even excluding the 19 items from the 80 item test not meeting their internal reliability criterion did not improve the reliabilities of the old scales in their Likert format. Validity of the SSS is not really addressed despite the title of the article.