Relations between linear models: Implications for the lens model

Brunswik's lens model has been widely used in the modeling and analysis of judgment tasks and the lens model equation has been an important part of most analyses. In such analyses, researchers often have based arguments and interpretations upon the magnitude of various components of the lens model equation. One component is G, an index of agreement between a linear model of the subject's judgments and a linear model of the task environment. This paper addresses the index G and shows that while in principle −1 G 1, the distribution of G is often skewed toward high values so that caution must be used in the interpretation of its magnitude. Moreover, the results reported here apply to the relation between linear models in general.     

Perception through a perspective-taking lens: Differential effects on judgment and behavior

In contrast to the view that social perception has symmetric effects on judgments and behavior, the current research explored whether perspective-taking leads stereotypes to differentially affect judgments and behavior. Across three studies, perspective-takers consistently used stereotypes more in their own behavior while simultaneously using them less in their judgments of others. After writing about an African-American, perspective-taking tendencies were positively correlated with aggressive behavior but negatively correlated with judging others as aggressive. Similarly, after writing about an elderly man, perspective-takers walked more slowly and became more conservative, but judged others as less dependent. These divergent effects of perspective-taking on judgment and behavior occurred regardless of whether perspective-taking was manipulated or measured, whether judgments were measured before or after behavior, the stereotype that was activated, and participants’ culture (American, Singaporean). These findings support theorizing that judgments and behavior can diverge when individuals’ social strategies are geared towards establishing and maintaining social bonds, as well as provide insight into how perspective-taking helps individuals manage diversity.     

A meta-analysis of response-time tests of the sequential two-systems model of moral judgment

The (generalized) sequential two-system (“default interventionist”) model of utilitarian moral judgment predicts that utilitarian responses often arise from a system-two correction of system-one deontological intuitions. Response-time (RT) results that seem to support this model are usually explained by the fact that low-probability responses have longer RTs. Following earlier results, we predicted response probability from each subject’s tendency to make utilitarian responses (A, “Ability”) and each dilemma’s tendency to elicit deontological responses (D, “Difficulty”), estimated from a Rasch model. At the point where A = D, the two responses are equally likely, so probability effects cannot account for any RT differences between them. The sequential two-system model still predicts that many of the utilitarian responses made at this point will result from system-two corrections of system-one intuitions, hence should take longer. However, when A = D, RT for the two responses was the same, contradicting the sequential model. Here we report a meta-analysis of 26 data sets, which replicated the earlier results of no RT difference overall at the point where A = D. The data sets used three different kinds of moral judgment items, and the RT equality at the point where A = D held for all three. In addition, we found that RT increased with A–D. This result holds for subjects (characterized by Ability) but not for items (characterized by Difficulty). We explain the main features of this unanticipated effect, and of the main results, with a drift-diffusion model.     

On the discrepant results in synchrony judgment and temporal-order judgment tasks: a quantitative model

Research on the perception of temporal order uses either temporal-order judgment (TOJ) tasks or synchrony judgment (SJ) tasks, in both of which two stimuli are presented with some temporal delay and observers must judge the order of presentation. Results generally differ across tasks, raising concerns about whether they measure the same processes. We present a model including sensory and decisional parameters that places these tasks in a common framework that allows studying their implications on observed performance. TOJ tasks imply specific decisional components that explain the discrepancy of results obtained with TOJ and SJ tasks. The model is also tested against published data on audiovisual temporal-order judgments, and the fit is satisfactory, although model parameters are more accurately estimated with SJ tasks. Measures of latent point of subjective simultaneity and latent sensitivity are defined that are invariant across tasks by isolating the sensory parameters governing observed performance, whereas decisional parameters vary across tasks and account for observed differences across them. Our analyses concur with other evidence advising against the use of TOJ tasks in research on perception of temporal order.     

Determinants of political trust: a lifetime learning model

This article addresses questions regarding the origins of individual variations in political trust. Using 2 prospective longitudinal studies, we examine the associations between family background, general cognitive ability (g) and school motivation at early age, educational and occupational attainment in adulthood, and political trust measured in early and mid-adulthood in 2 large representative samples of the British population born in 1958 (N = 8,804) and in 1970 (N = 7,194). A lifetime learning model of political trust is tested using structural equation modeling to map the pathways linking early experiences to adult outcomes. Results show that political trust is shaped by both early and later experiences with institutions in society. Individuals who have accumulated more socioeconomic, educational, and motivational resources throughout their life course express higher levels of political trust than do those with fewer resources.     

Heuristic and linear models of judgment: matching rules and environments

Much research has highlighted incoherent implications of judgmental heuristics, yet other findings have demonstrated high correspondence between predictions and outcomes. At the same time, judgment has been well modeled in the form of as if linear models. Accepting the probabilistic nature of the environment, the authors use statistical tools to model how the performance of heuristic rules varies as a function of environmental characteristics. They further characterize the human use of linear models by exploring effects of different levels of cognitive ability. They illustrate with both theoretical analyses and simulations. Results are linked to the empirical literature by a meta-analysis of lens model studies. Using the same tasks, the authors estimate the performance of both heuristics and humans where the latter are assumed to use linear models. Their results emphasize that judgmental accuracy depends on matching characteristics of rules and environments and highlight the trade-off between using linear models and heuristics. Whereas the former can be cognitively demanding, the latter are simple to implement. However, heuristics require knowledge to indicate when they should be used.     

Revisiting the affect regulation model of binge eating: a meta-analysis of studies using ecological momentary assessment

The affect regulation model of binge eating, which posits that patients binge eat to reduce negative affect (NA), has received support from cross-sectional and laboratory-based studies. Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) involves momentary ratings and repeated assessments over time and is ideally suited to identify temporal antecedents and consequences of binge eating. This meta-analytic review includes EMA studies of affect and binge eating. Electronic database and manual searches produced 36 EMA studies with N = 968 participants (89% Caucasian women). Meta-analyses examined changes in affect before and after binge eating using within-subjects standardized mean gain effect sizes (ESs). Results supported greater NA preceding binge eating relative to average affect (ES = 0.63) and affect before regular eating (ES = 0.68). However, NA increased further following binge episodes (ES = 0.50). Preliminary findings suggested that NA decreased following purging in bulimia nervosa (ES = -0.46). Moderators included diagnosis (with significantly greater elevations of NA prior to bingeing in binge eating disorder compared to bulimia nervosa) and binge definition (with significantly smaller elevations of NA before binge vs. regular eating episodes for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders definition compared to lay definitions of binge eating). Overall, results fail to support the affect regulation model of binge eating and challenge reductions in NA as a maintenance factor for binge eating. However, limitations of this literature include unidimensional analyses of NA and inadequate examination of affect during binge eating, as binge eating may regulate only specific facets of affect or may reduce NA only during the episode.     

Nested models of relative judgment: Applications to a similarity averaging model

A theoretical analysis of the Eisler and Ekman (1959) model of similarity judgments for unidimensional continua is presented, based on a general model of relative judgment. This general model assumes that judgments are mediated by perceived relations of pairs of stimuli, that there exists a transformation of the judgmental response that is a function of the sensory ratio of the two stimuli, and that response bias operates in a multiplicative manner. Three structural conditions are presented, each imposing constraints on the structure of observed judgments. The structural conditions define threenested models of relative judgment, with the second a weakened version of the first, and the third a weakened version of the second. The special virtue of the general model is that it is applicable to a variety of judgmental tasks (e.g., ratio estimation, similarity, pair comparison), the key being derivation of theresponse transformation conforming to the structural conditions. The structural conditions thus constitute necessary conditions for several different judgmental models. The theory was first applied with success to ratio estimation judgments (Fagot, 1978), and this paper applies the general model to the Eisler and Ekman similarity “averaging” model. Empirical tests were carried out on published data for pitch, darkness, visual area, and heaviness judgments. Although the strong form of the model presented by Eisler and Ekman was rejected, weakened versions were generally supported by the data. These results were similar to those obtained for ratio estimation (Fagot, 1978), and are interpreted to be very promising for the general model of relative judgment.     

A test of a two-stage model of magnitude judgment

It has been suggested that the power law J = aⁿ, describing the relationship between numerical magnitude judgments and physical magnitudes, confounds a sensory or input function with an output function flawing to do with O’s use of numbers. Judged magnitudes of differences between stimuli offer some opportunity for separating these functions. We obtained magnitude judgments of differences between paired weights, as well as magnitude judgments of the weights making up the pairs. From the former we calculated simultaneously an input exponent and an output exponent, working upon Attneave’s assumption that both transformations are describable as power functions. The inferred input and output functions, in combination, closely predict the judgments of individual weights by the same Os. Although pooled data (geometric means of judgments) conform fairly well to a linear output function, individual data do not; i.e., individual Os deviate quite significantly fromlinearity and from one another in their use of numbers. Individual values of the inferred sensory exponent, k, show significantly better uniformity over Os than do values of the phenotypica! magnitude exponent previously found to describe interval judgments of weight.     

Sex differences in left-handedness: a meta-analysis of 144 studies

Human handedness, a marker for language lateralization in the brain, continues to attract great research interest. A widely reported but not universal finding is a greater male tendency toward left-handedness. Here the authors present a meta-analysis of k = 144 studies, totaling N = 1,787,629 participants, the results of which demonstrate that the sex difference is both significant and robust. The overall best estimate for the male to female odds ratio was 1.23 (95% confidence interval = 1.19, 1.27). The widespread observation of this sex difference is consistent with it being related to innate characteristics of sexual differentiation, and its observed magnitude places an important constraint on current theories of handedness. In addition, the size of the sex difference was significantly moderated by the way in which handedness was assessed (by writing hand or by other means), the location of testing, and the year of publication of the study, implicating additional influences on its development.     

Hedonic integration: Test of a linear model

A simple adding model was tested for the integration of the hedonic component of taste stimuli. Subjects tasted mixtures of quinine sulfate and apple juice and rated the pleasantness of the composite taste, The rating data showed significant nonadditivity, which could reflect failure of the model itself or merely a nonlinear response output function. Since the rating data could be transformed to additivity, justification for such transformation was sought through a second task based on the logic of two-stage integration. In this task, subjects rated the difference between taste mixtures. The subtracting model underlying this judgment provided functional scale values for the taste mixtures on validated interval scales. These functional scale values were consistent with the predictions of the simple adding model, and thus justified the transformation of the single rating data to additivity. The application of functional measurement to obtain the psychophysical functions of the two taste components is also illustrated.     

Sources of variation in moral judgment: Toward a model of real-life morality

To evaluate the extent to which the models of moral judgment advanced by Kohlberg (1984) and by Gilligan (1982, 1988) are able to account for real-life moral judgment, we investigated the relation of sex and type of moral dilemma to moral stage and moral orientation. Eighty young adult men and women made moral judgments about two hypothetical Kohlberg dilemmas, two real-life antisocial dilemmas, and two real-life prosocial dilemmas. We failed to find any sex differences in moral judgment. Moral stage and moral orientation varied across the three types of dilemma. Kohlberg's dilemmas pulled for justice-oriented Stage 4 moral judgments, real-life prosocial dilemmas pulled for care-oriented Stage 3 moral judgments, and real-life antisocial dilemmas pulled for justice-oriented Stage 2 moral judgments. The content of moral judgments was related to their structure. There was a positive relation between stage of moral judgment on Kohlberg dilemmas and on real-life dilemmas. The implications of these findings for a new, more interactional, model of real-life moral judgment are discussed.     

Testing a computational model of interpersonal judgment with personal constructs

In a repertory grid experiment based on elicited personal constructs we tested several predictive implications of a computational model of interpersonal judgment developed by Lefebvre, Lefebvre, and Adams-Webber (1986). Results are compared with related findings within the framework of personal construct theory.     

Five-factor model of personality and job satisfaction: a meta-analysis

This study reports results of a meta-analysis linking traits from the 5-factor model of personality to overall job satisfaction. Using the model as an organizing framework, 334 correlations from 163 independent samples were classified according to the model. The estimated true score correlations with job satisfaction were -.29 for Neuroticism, .25 for Extraversion, .02 for Openness to Experience, .17 for Agreeableness, and .26 for Conscientiousness. Results further indicated that only the relations of Neuroticism and Extraversion with job satisfaction generalized across studies. As a set, the Big Five traits had a multiple correlation of .41 with job satisfaction, indicating support for the validity of the dispositional source of job satisfaction when traits are organized according to the 5-factor model.     

Two studies of Piaget's theory of moral judgment

The relationship between conservation skills and subjective responsibility (SR) in moral judgment was examined in two studies. The Kohlberg ontogenetic priority hypothesis stating that conversation is a necessary but not sufficient condition of SR was pitted against the common structural basis hypothesis advanced by Damon. Piaget's notion of heteronomy as a combination of preoperational thought and unilateral respect was studied by using the behavioural independence tasks by Subbotsky as indicators of unilateral respect. A teaching experiment using Galperin's and Obukhova's method to induce conservation indicated significant transfer from conservation to SR. SR was found to be more susceptible to regression over a 3–month period than conservation. Conservers were less likely to regress on SR than nonconservers. Unilateral respect was related to objective responsibility but not to conservation. Taken together the data fail to support Kohlberg's ontogenetic priority hypothesis and only partially support the Piaget and Damon model of a common underlying structure. It is concluded that SR judgments largely reflect individual judgmental strategies and the effect of conservation on SR is intepreted in terms of increasing cross-situational consistency in the use of these strategies.