Measurement by subjective estimation: Testing for separable representations

Studying how individuals compare two given quantitative stimuli, say d₁ and d₂, is a fundamental problem. One very common way to address it is through ratio estimation, that is to ask individuals not to give values to d₁ and d₂, but rather to give their estimates of the ratio p=d₁/d₂. Several psychophysical theories (the best known being Stevens’ power-law) claim that this ratio cannot be known directly and that there are cognitive distortions on the apprehension of the different quantities. These theories result in the so-called separable representations [Luce, R. D. (2002). A psychophysical theory of intensity proportions, joint presentations, and matches. Psychological Review, 109, 520–532; Narens, L. (1996). A theory of ratio magnitude estimation. Journal of Mathematical Psychology, 40, 109–788], which include Stevens’ model as a special case. In this paper we propose a general statistical framework that allows for testing in a rigorous way whether the separable representation theory is grounded or not. We conclude in favor of it, but reject Stevens’ model. As a byproduct, we provide estimates of the psychophysical functions of interest.     

Measurement of subjective responses to alcohol and non-alcohol slides by alcoholic respondents

Although ‘anxiety’ has traditionally been hypothesized as the cognitive mediating CR which results from electrical a versive conditioning, alternate competing hypotheses have not been adequately studied. This investigation has generated four constructs from a factor analysis of adjective ratings on alcohol-related stimuli and four constructs from an identical analysis of ratings on non-alcohol related stimuli. As these constructs are orthogonal, each can be used as an independent measure of ‘cognitive mediator’ or alternative competing hypothesis. The alcohol-related constructs appeared to be: (1) dangerous vs. safety; (2) approach or appetitiveness: (3) avoidance or aversiveness; and (4) general evaluation good vs. bad.     

Sizing up information distortion: quantifying its effect on the subjective values of choice options

When choosing between options, people often distort new information in a direction that favors their developing preference. Such information distortion is widespread and robust, but less is known about the magnitude of its effects. In particular, research has not quantified the effects of distortion relative to the values of the choice options. In two experiments, we manipulated participants’ initial preferences in choices between risky three-outcome monetary gambles (win, lose, or neither) by varying the order of five information items (e.g., amount to win, chance of losing). In Experiment 1 (N = 397), the effect of initial information on gambles’ certainty equivalents (subjective values) was mediated by the distortion of later information. The indirect effect on the difference between gambles’ certainty equivalents averaged 27% of the gambles’ mean expected value. In Experiment 2 (N = 791), we increased the difference between gambles on a later information item to overcome the effect of initial information on participants’ choices. The required change averaged 31% of the gambles’ mean expected value. We conclude that the effects of information distortion can be substantial.     

Forming subjective representations of subjective representations: evidence of a subjective status bias

In 3 studies and 2 pilot experiments, the author examined whether attending to the subjective status of mental representations would affect the ways humans view representational contents. The author found that simple drawing tasks were executed differently depending on whether or not the subject of the drawing was defined as a mental content (belief, imagination, perception). The results challenged particular lay epistemological concepts. They were partly accounted for by Gricean conversational rules (H. P. Grice, 1975), but the author postulated a subjective status bias to fully explain them. The discussion and recommendations for research center on the nature of this bias and relate it either to a tendency to conceive subjective representations as vague shadows of reality, or to an increased impact of the law of pregnance.     

"Cultural fit": individual and societal discrepancies in values, beliefs, and subjective well-being

The author examined the relationship between cultural values, beliefs, and subjective well-being (SWB) in the context of the "cultural fit" proposition with 3 diverse Chinese samples from Taiwan and Mainland China (N = 581). The author found that beliefs regarding the independent self, the interdependent self, active control, and relationship harmony as forming individual-level culture were consistently related to SWB. Furthermore, the author found that the magnitude of cultural fit was associated with SWB for certain groups of the Chinese people. It is most interesting that the direction of cultural fit regarding independent self was also important for SWB. Specifically, people who endorsed higher independent self but expected lower societal endorsement of such views were better off in SWB than those of the opposite combination.     

Determinants of subjective novelty

Subjects were exposed to sequences of colored shapes and required torate each stimulus on a 7-point scale for “novelty.” The sequences were such that 12 hypotheses regarding determinants of subjective novelty could be tested by orthogonal comparisons. The results of two experiments confirmed eight of the hypotheses.     

Overestimation of subjective probabilities

Abstract.— When asked to estimate the probability of outcomes of draws from a binomial population, student subjects tend to report p values that clearly exceed the objective ones. The probability of specific binomial sequences was found to be even more overestimated, while the answers became much more conservative when the outcomes were grouped into a few categories. These findings were replicated in a second experiment, where the probability of heights in a male and a female student population was estimated. When the task was to estimate frequency of occurrence, instead of probability, the answers became more realistic. The conclusion is drawn that the direct p estimates are relatively independent of frequency judgments, the chief determinant being the properties of the particular sample to be evaluated, irrespective of the number and probabilities of other possible samples.     

Predicting the subjective experience of intrinsic motivation: the roles of self-determination, the balance of challenges and skills, and self-realization values

A series of studies was conducted to investigate the contributions of self-determination, perceived competence, and self-realization values to the subjective experience of intrinsic motivation. Using varying sets of instructions in these studies, college undergraduates generated and subsequently evaluated panels of identity-related activities. Three measures of the subjective experience of intrinsic motivation were used as outcome variables: (a) interest, (b) flow experiences, and (c) feelings of personal expressiveness. These subjective experience measures were strongly intercorrelated. Across studies, self-determination was found to be strongly associated with all of the subjective experience measures. In contrast, self-realization values made larger contributions to flow experiences and to personal expressiveness than to interest. Perceived competence, although significantly correlated with all subjective experience measures, played a considerably smaller role in the prediction of intrinsic motivation.     

The subjective intuition

Theories of well-being are typically divided into subjective and objective. Subjective theories are those which make facts about a person’s welfare depend on facts about her actual or hypothetical mental states. I am interested in what motivates this approach to the theory of welfare. The contemporary view is that subjectivism is devoted to honoring the evaluative perspective of the individual, but this is both a misleading account of the motivations behind subjectivism, and a vision that dooms subjective theories to failure. I suggest that we need to revisit and reinstate certain features of traditional hedonism, in particular the idea that felt experience plays a role that no theory of welfare can afford to ignore. I then offer a sketch of a theory that is subjective in my preferred sense and avoids the worst sins of hedonism as well as the problems generated by the contemporary constraints of subjective theorists.     

Kinetic subjective contours

Continuous changes in spatially separated figures can evoke perception of subjective contours and figures in physically homogeneous space between them. This occurs when all of the interruptions in the objectively present patterns (inducing elements) can be seen as caused by a unitary figure partly occluding them. Two experiments demonstrated and explored this phenomenon. In both, displays were presented to subjects under three conditions. In one condition, stationary inducing elements were shown as they would be interrupted by a figure rotating in front of them. In another condition, the background and inducing elements rotated, with interruptions occurring as if a stationary figure were in front. In a third condition, observers were shown 10 static views taken from the figure-rotation sequence for each display. Subjects consistently perceived unitary central figures with well-defined forms and clear edges from pattern changes given by figure movement and background movement. As with static subjective figures, kinetic subjective figures appear in front of, partly occluding, the inducing elements. These percepts form rapidly, and they depend upon temporal relations rather than upon information present in momentary views. Subjects occasionally reported subjective edges or a central figure in the stationary displays in Experiment 1, but not at all in Experiment 2, in which guessing tendencies were reduced by more specific instructions. The existence of kinetic subjective contours suggests that the visual system readily utilizes relationships among occlusion events separated in space and time. The minimum conditions for contour perception require neither information all along an edge nor simultaneous specification of the edge at two or more places.     

Self-stimulating rats combine subjective reward magnitude and subjective reward rate multiplicatively

For rats that bar pressed for intracranial electrical stimulation in a 2-lever matching paradigm with concurrent variable interval schedules of reward, the authors found that the time allocation ratio is based on a multiplicative combination of the ratio of subjective reward magnitudes and the ratio of the rates of reward. Multiplicative combining was observed in a range covering approximately 2 orders of magnitude in the ratio of the rates of reward from about 1:10 to 10:1) and an order of magnitude change in the size of rewards. After determining the relation between the pulse frequency of stimulation and subjective reward magnitude, the authors were able to predict from knowledge of the subjective magnitudes of the rewards and the obtained relative rates of reward the subject's time allocation ratio over a range in which it varied by more than 3 orders of magnitude.     

Perception of parents as demonstrating the inherent merit of their values: Relations with self‐congruence and subjective well‐being

This study focuses on the parenting practice of inherent value demonstration (IVD), involving parents' tendency to express their values in behaviours and appear satisfied and vital while doing so. Data from Chinese college students (n = 89) confirmed the hypothesis that offspring's perception of their parents as engaged in IVD predicts offspring's subjective well‐being (SWB) through sense of self‐congruence. Importantly, these relations emerged also when controlling for fundamental autonomy‐supportive (FAS) parenting practices such as taking children's perspective, minimising control and allowing choice. These findings are consistent with the view that parents concerned with their children's sense of autonomy may do well to engage in IVD in addition to more fundamental autonomy‐supportive practices. Future research may examine the role of IVD in promoting authentic values that serve as an internal compass that guides children to act in ways that feel self‐congruent.     

Optimizing subjective measures of consciousness

Dienes and Seth (2010) conclude that confidence ratings and post-decision wagering are two comparable and recommendable measures of conscious experience. In a recently submitted paper, we have however found that both methods are problematic and seem less suited to measure consciousness than a direct introspective measure.Here, we discuss the methodology and conclusions put forward by Dienes and Seth, and why we think the two experiments end up with so different recommendations.     

Two subjective scales of number

The way in which the apparent magnitude of numbers grows with their absolute magnitude was measured with a modified version of the direct technique Marks and Slawson (1966) used to determine the psychophysical exponent for loudness. This modified technique required subjects to estimate how evenly and randomly a sequence of integers appeared to sample the numerical continuum. The results indicate that the apparent magnitude of numbers increases with a decelerated power function of their arithmetic magnitude when a series samples from an open-ended range. However, when an upper boundary of the range is specified, the subjective scale seems to be linear. Random productions of numbers parallel the results found with judgments of presented sequences. The two scales of number provide the basis for an interpretation of the difference between magnitude and category scales: that subjects use numbers differently when the response scale is open-ended Imagnitude estimation than when it has a fixed upper limit tcategory scale. Given the assumption that subjects use numbers in this way in the two tasks, the qualitative relation between magnitude and category scales is predicted.