Sensory scales of taste intensity

The subjective intensity of taste was scaled by the method of magnitude estimation in which Os assigned numbers to designate the apparent strength ofstimulus concentrations. Substances used were sucrose, dextrose, maltose, fructose, saccharin, Sucaryl, sodium chloride, and quinine sulfate. For aqueous solutions of each substance, taste intensity was found to increase as a power function of concentration by weight. Some approximate exponents were: sucrose, 1.3; sodium chloride, 1.4; quinine sulfate. 1.0. The magnitude scale for sucrose was compared with the category scale obtained by a commonly used rating procedure. The category scale turned out to be highly nonlinear.     

A comparison of the validity of three scales for the assessment of dietary restraint

The construct validity of Herman and Polivy's Restraint Scale (RS), the restraint factor of the Three Factor Eating Questionnaire (TFEQ-R), and the restraint scale of the Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire (DEBQ-R) were investigated by relating these scales to self-reported mean caloric intake per day and to other measures associated with disordered eating and figure consciousness. A factor analysis showed that the three restraint scales measure different components of the restraint construct. A high score on the RS was closely related to consequences of mostly unsuccessful dieting, such as disinhibited eating and weight fluctuations, but not to successful overall caloric restriction in everyday life. High scores on the TFEQ-R and the DEBQ-R represented the more successful dieting behavior component of restraint. The three scales have in common a motivational component of restrained eating, including concerns about shape and weight, and desire for thinness.     

Right-nostril advantage for discrimination of odors

Olfactory discrimination was tested with eight pairs of odors presented to each nostril of each subject. Ninety-nine subjects were tested; there were equal numbers of left- and right-handers, as well as both sexes. Detection thresholds for phenylethyl alcohol were measured separately in each nostril using a forced-choice staircase procedure. In addition, a verbal dichotic listening test known to be sensitive to language lateralization was administered. Results indicated that discrimination performance was significantly better when the stimuli were presented to the right nostril than when they were presented to the left, but no differences between the nostrils in detection thresholds were found. The right-nostril advantage did not vary as a function of sex or handedness, and did not bear any relation to language lateralization as measured via dichotic listening. The asymmetry for olfactory discrimination replicates an earlier study and is interpreted in terms of a possible specialization of function within the right cerebral hemisphere.     

Psychometric properties and correlates of three computer aversion scales

Investigators have employed a variety of constructs and measures to examine individuals’ discomfort with computer use. Models and instruments for measuring constructs such as computer anxiety, computer phobia, and computer aversion have been employed to investigate negative reactions that slow individuals’ acceptance and useful application of computers. Using a large college student sample, we sought to compare the psychometric properties of three computer aversion scales and to investigate their relationships to gender, age, cognitive abilities, and experience with computer use. The results indicated good reliability, good validity coefficients, and similar factor structures for the scales. Younger students, female students, and students with lower mathematical skills and less computer experience were more likely to experience discomfort with computers. Implications include the possibility that if software and hardware alter subjects’ expectations about the difficulty of completing tasks, individual differences in computer aversion are likely to become a source of additional unexplained variance. Such differences must be heeded in software design and in the design of experimental research involving computers as stimulus controllers and response recorders.     

Dimensionality of three adult, objective locus of control scales

Summary: The current conceptualization of the locus of control construct as unidimensional was challenged. The Rotter I-E scale, James I-E scale, and Adult Nowicki-Strickland I-E scale were examined with regard to their reported psychometric properties. The three scales were factor analyzed using a principal components method with varimax rotation. Results indicated a multifactor makeup for the three scales. It was suggested that attempts to measure a generalized expectancy for control be abandoned and that, instead, measurement attempts focus on the development of instruments specific to the behavioral and situational domains for which behavioral understanding, prediction, and control are sought.     

Measuring meaning in life: An examination of three scales

Meaning in life is an important construct for psychological theory which has received little empirical investigation, partly because of uncertainty about measurement scales. This paper examines the factor structure of three scales to measure meaning in life, the purpose in life (PIL) test, the life regard index (LRI) and the sense of coherence (SOC) scale. Results suggest that meaning in life can be regarded as a multidimensional construct, with meaning able to be attained in several different ways. Oblique factor solutions were accepted, and higher-order analyses conducted for all three scales. A general second-order meaning in life dimension was identified only for PIL and it is suggested that this scale may be the best general measure of the construct. It is concluded that further work should be undertaken to explore the specific dimensions of meaning in life.     

Psychometric properties of scores on three Black racial identity scales

In this study, we examined the internal consistency and the structural validity of scores on the African Self-Consciousness Scale (ASCS), the Multidimensional Inventory of Black Identity (MIBI), and the Cross Racial Identity Scale (CRIS). Participants consisted of 225 African American college students--75 attending predominantly White institutions (PWIs) and 150 attending historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs). Internal consistency estimates were above .60 for scores on one ASCS subscale, six MIBI subscales, and six CRIS subscales. Exploratory factor analytic procedures supported a two-factor structure for ASCS scores, a five-factor structure for MIBI scores, and a six-factor structure for CRIS scores. Implications for Black racial identity and scale development are discussed.     

A comparative study of scales constructed by three psychophysical methods

A comparison is made between the scales constructed by the Method of Paired Comparison, Rank Order, and the Method of Successive Intervals. Application of the three psychophysical methods to handwriting specimens and to nationality preferences results in mutually linear scales. Choice of scaling methods becomes, then, a matter of practical convenience rather than of relative validity.The writer is very much indebted to Professor L. L. Thurstone for the suggestion of this problem and for supervision in carrying out the study.     

Use of three depression scales for evaluation of pretreatment severity and of improvement after treatment

We investigated the Castilian Spanish versions of three scales (the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression, the Carroll Rating Scale for Depression, and the Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale) as to their suitability for classifying major depression patients in four levels of severity prior to treatment with tricyclic antidepressants, and also as to their suitability for classifying these patients in four improvement levels when administered posttreatment. Although the scales behaved quite similarly, each was most efficient at the task for which it had been designed, i.e., severity rating for the Hamilton and Carroll scales, improvement rating for the Montgomery-Asberg scale.     

An examination of three sets of MMPI-2 personality disorder scales

Three sets of personality disorder scales (PD scales) can be scored for the MMPI-2 (Butcher, Dahlstrom, Graham, Tellegen, & Kaemmer, 1989). Two sets (Levitt & Gotts, 1995; Morey, Waugh, & Blashfield, 1985) are derived from the MMPI (Hathaway & McKinley, 1983), and a third set (Somwaru & Ben-Porath, 1995) is based on the MMPI-2. There is no validity research for the Levitt and Gotts scale, and limited validity research is available for the Somwaru and Ben-Porath scales. There is a large body of research suggesting that the Morey et al. scales have good to excellent convergent validity when compared to a variety of other measures of personality disorders. Since the Morey et al. scales have established validity, there is a question if additional sets of PD scales are needed. The primary purpose of this research was to determine if the PD scales developed by Levitt and Gotts and those developed by Somwaru and Ben-Porath contribute incrementally to the scales developed by Morey et al. in predicting corresponding scales on the MCMI-II (Millon, 1987). In a sample of 494 individuals evaluated at an Army medical center, a hierarchical regression analysis demonstrated that the Somwaru and Ben-Porath Borderline, Antisocial, and Schizoid PD scales and the Levitt and Gotts Narcissistic and Histrionic scales contributed significantly and meaningfully to the Morey et al. scales in predicting the corresponding MCMI-II (Millon, 1987) scale. However, only the Somwaru and Ben-Porath scales demonstrated acceptable internal consistency and convergent validity.     

Very short term recognition memory for odors

An investigation of very short term olfactory recognition memory was made with odors of low familiarity to subjects. The experimental procedure was that currently used to make qualitative similarity judgments on odors delivered in paired succession. Subjects made similarity judgments in a yes/no recognition paradigm on odors that were either identical or different. The dependence of recognition performance upon the degree of qualitative similarity was assessed by using two sets of dissimilar odor pairs: slightly dissimilar pairs (S1) and very dissimilar pairs (S2). Performance in terms of correct judgments (hits, correct rejections) was rather good for identical pairs in both sets and was nearly perfect for very dissimilar pairs with a delay of 2–300 sec, suggesting no effect of time or similarity on performance. However, for slightly dissimilar pairs, false alarms increased in number, thereby indicating a dependence of the recognition score on the qualitative distance between odors. In addition, false alarms tended to increase with the lengthening of the retention interval. It was suggested that the subjects based their responses on their capability to detect differences between odors rather than recognizing their similarities. Correct identifications were thus preserved at the cost of increasing false alarms when the discrimination task was made more difficult by closer similarity between odors (S1) or by the fading of memory traces with time. Studying the congruence between the similarity judgments and the kind of evocations associated with paired odors gives some support to the view that recognition performances had some cognitive/semantic basis.     

The factor structure underlying three self-report multicultural counseling competence scales

This study examined the extent to which 3 self-report multicultural scales were measuring the predominant 3-factor conceptualization of multicultural counseling competence as consisting of multicultural attitudes/beliefs, knowledge, and skills. Results of a confirmatory factor analysis revealed that the 3-factor model was not fully supported. An exploratory factor analysis identified a 2-factor structure (i.e., self-perceived multicultural counseling skills and multicultural counseling attitudes/beliefs) underlying these instruments. Implications of the findings for clinical practice, training, and research are discussed.     

Time perception: Effects of sex and sound intensity on scales of subjective duration

Six women and six men reproduced ten time intervals varying in logarithmic steps between 1.3 and 20 s. The durations were indicated by white noise of 10, 25, 40 and 55 dB SL, different sound intensities in different sessions. It was found that (i) greater sound intensity entails shorter reproductions, and (ii) reproductions by male observers are shorter than those by female, although for both (i) and (ii) there is an interaction with the standard durations. The data were treated in accordance with the "parallel-clock model" (Eisler, 1975), whereby the parameters of the psychophysical power function are determined from duration reproduction data. As in previous experiments (Eisler, 1975), the data showed a break in the function entailing two segments. The effect of sound intensity could be attributed to the exponent, which was lower for stronger noise, and the effect of sex to the weight coefficient of the upper relative to the lower segment of the psychophysical function, the coefficient being lower for men.     

Serial position effects in recognition memory for odors

Five experiments examined recognition memory for sequentially presented odors. Participants were presented with a sequence of odors and then had to identify an odor from the list in a test probe containing 2 odors. All experiments demonstrated enhanced recognition of odors presented at the start and end of a series, compared with those presented in the middle of the series when a 3-s retention interval between list termination and test was used. In Experiments 2 and 3, when a 30-s or 60-s retention interval was used, participants performed at slightly lower levels, although the serial position function was similar to that obtained with the 3-s retention interval. These results were noted with a 5-item (Experiments 1 and 4), 7-item (Experiment 2), 6-item (Experiment 3), and 4-item (Experiment 5) list of odors. As the number of test trials increased, recognition performance decreased, indicating a strong role for olfactory fatigue or interference in these procedures. A verbal suppression task, used in Experiments 4 and 5, had little influence on serial-position-based performance.