Coalition formation in characteristic function games: Competitive tests of three theories

Two experiments tested the bargaining, minimum resource, and minimum power theories of coalition formation in situations involving different payoffs for some of the winning coalitions (characteristic function games). In the first experiment, a triadic resource distribution was employed and payoffs for the coalitions were specified in such a way that each of the three theories predicted the formation of a different coalition. The coalition predicted by minimum power theory formed the most frequently, and the mean divisions of the payoffs among coalition members were also closest to the predictions of minimum power theory. However, the most frequent coalition was not only the one predicted by minimum power theory, it was also the one having the largest payoff per member. There-fore, a second experiment was conducted, which employed a tetradic resource distribution and specified the coalition payoffs in such a way that (a) each of the theories predicted the formation of a different coalition and (b) none of the predicted coalitions was the one with the largest payoff per member. Although the mean payoff divisions in the coalitions in this experiment were closest to those predicted by bargaining theory, the coalition that formed most frequently was not one of those predicted by any of the theories. Rather, it was the one having the largest payoff per member. None of the three theories is able to account adequately for the results of both experiments. The difficulties that the theories have in dealing with coalition formation in situations in which there are different payoffs for winning are discussed.     

State-trace analysis: A method of testing simple theories of causation

An independent variable measures some aspect of a treatment applied to a person; a dependent variable measures some aspect of the treatment's effect upon the person. Two dependent variables will often covary with each other because they are affected by a common independent variable. A state trace is a graph which plots the value of one dependent variable as a function of another. (Thus, a state trace is a generalization of the yes-no receiver-operating-characteristic curve.) By appropriately analyzing state traces, it is possible to test theories concerning (a) the mechanisms by which independent variables affect dependent variables and (b) how these mechanisms differ from one population of persons to another. As an illustration, a study of long-term memory in normal persons, schizophrenics, and persons with organic brain syndrome is presented. The effects of number of word presentations and length of retention interval upon probability of word recall and recognition were investigated. The results were analyzed by state-trace analysis.     

The equal division kernel: An equity approach to coalition formation and payoff distribution in N-person games

Most existing models of coalition formation and payoff distribution in groups rest upon normative considerations and are ambiguous in their predictions insofar as they do not determine which of several coalitions will most probably result. The paper sketches the basic features of a model derived from social psychological exchange-and equity-theory which predicts coalitions and payoff distributions for a variety of situations. The evaluation of the model by the results of several experiments indicates that it provides a reasonable starting point for further theoretical developments that are based empirical studies.     

Artifact and Barber's model of hypnosis: A logical-empirical analysis

Two studies examined the relevance of artifact to Barber's model of hypnosis. Study I analyzed subjects' perceptions of instructions employed by the paradigm and demonstrated strong social pressure in the model's task motivational set not present in its standard set of hypnotic induction instructions. Study II coped with the artifact by applying the standard methodology of the model but employing a set of modified hypnotic instructions equivalent in constraint to the task motivational set. Results for 88 subjects indicated a possible behavioral consequence of the artifact variable involving an interaction between type of instruction and ease of hypnotic test item; individual differences in suggestibility also appeared to discriminate conditions with respect to the artifact in question. Collectively, results indicate that the major inference drawn from the paradigm regarding the expendability of the concept of trance should be accepted with caution.     

A mathematical characterization of interpretation between theories

Of the various notions of reduction in the logical literature, relative interpretability in the sense of Tarskiet al. [6] appears to be the central one. In the present note, this syntactic notion is characterized semantically, through the existence of a suitable reduction functor on models. The latter mathematical condition itself suggests a natural generalization, whose syntactic equivalent turns out to be a notion of interpretability quite close to that of Ershov [1], Szczerba [5] and Gaifman [2]. This author's contribution was completed during a fellowship held at The Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study, 1982–3. Both authors would like to thank Wilfrid Hodges for his valuable comments and advice concerning an earlier version of this paper.     

A Plumber's friend in need is a Plumber's friend indeed

In response to the critique of Gaes, Quigley-Fernandez, and Tedeschi (Journal of Research in Personality, 1978, 12, 189–192) it was acknowledged that the cell Ns were incorrect as originally reported, and the weakness of a postexperimental division of subjects was reaffirmed. Emphasis was placed on the comparability of a simple rating scale and an elaborate bogus pipeline in measuring attraction. The need for determining the way in which the bogus pipeline functions prior to its uncritical adoption in any given experimental situation was stressed as a point of agreement.     

Sorting out what's in a word from what's not: Evaluating Clark's Semantic Features Acquisition theory

The Semantic Features Acquisition theory of semantic development which is due to E. Clark (e.g., 1973b) is reviewed and evaluated against the recent experimental literature, with special reference to the acquisition of English antonyms. The review critically examines the three major ontogenetic principles of Clark's theory in light of numerous recent findings, many of which are at variance in some major way with predictions from the theory. In many instances, new data are available which call into question previous findings. A recurrent problem has been that children's comprehension task performance is confounded with their response biases which are specific to the linguistic and nonlinguistic contexts in which the lexical terms are presented. Methodological implications are discussed, with recommendations for employing the logic of converging operations.     

Why Mikey's right and my key's wrong: The significance of stress and word boundaries in a child's output system

The systematic errors children make in the course of phonological development, like adult production errors and adult phonological processes, can provide evidence of language production mechanisms. A detailed investigation of the environments in which velar stops are fronted by a phonologically delayed child reveals that fronting is dependent on both word stress and word boundaries; that it shows lexical exceptions; and that it occurs in output only. This distribution suggests that the child has output lexical representations which are independent of input lexical representations, and that the fronting error occurs in these output representations. It also suggests that prosodic features are crucial to the identification of articulatory features within these representations. Such an analysis has implications for theories of lexical access, and for the development of lexical access in children.     

The interplay of self‐interest and equity in coalition formation

In this paper we investigated the interplay of self‐interest and equity concerns in coalition formation by manipulating the number of units in which the coalition payoff is made available, and by manipulating the way people are allowed to interact. Results of three experiments showed that when the coalition payoff was such that members of each possible coalition could obtain an equitable payoff share, the outcome tended to be coalitions that also maximized the payoff of its members. However, when the payoff was such that people had to make trade‐offs between maximizing their payoff share and obtaining an equitable payoff share, it took longer to form a coalition and it was harder to maintain a coalition. Moreover, depending on the way people were allowed to interact, the final outcome was a coalition that maximized the payoff of its members or a coalition that provided them with an equitable payoff share. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.