Scaling occupational prestige by magnitude estimation and category rating methods: A comparison with the sensory domain

In a field study, models for magnitude estimation and for category ratings are applied to the scaling of occupational prestige. The two respective models provide sufficient conditions for magnitude estimates to yield logarithmic interval scales and for category ratings to lead to interval scales. Both models are found to hold reasonably well for the majority of respondents. As implied by a third model, the relation between magnitude estimation and category rating scales can well be described by a generalized power function. Although overall results do not favour one method over the other individual data analyses reveal substantial interindividual differences with respect to the capability of performing magnitude estimates and category ratings, respectively. The findings are compared to results recently found in psychophysical laboratory experiments, and it is concluded that the individual scale properties the two methods provide do not differ across the attitudinal and the sensory domains.     

A comparison of methods to test mediation and other intervening variable effects

A Monte Carlo study compared 14 methods to test the statistical significance of the intervening variable effect. An intervening variable (mediator) transmits the effect of an independent variable to a dependent variable. The commonly used R. M. Baron and D. A. Kenny (1986) approach has low statistical power. Two methods based on the distribution of the product and 2 difference-in-coefficients methods have the most accurate Type I error rates and greatest statistical power except in 1 important case in which Type I error rates are too high. The best balance of Type I error and statistical power across all cases is the test of the joint significance of the two effects comprising the intervening variable effect.     

A comparison of two methods of measuring conditioned taste aversions

Two methods of measuring conditioned taste aversions were compared. Following adaptation to a daily 10-min water drinking schedule, rats were made ill with an injection of cyclophosphamide after presentation of a novel-tasting fluid. Three days after this treatment, Ss were tested by (1) measuring the amount of the novel fluid consumed on the continuing 10-min access schedule or (2) measuring their preference between plain water and the novel fluid. When the drinking behavior of the conditioned animals was compared with that of appropriate controls, the preference method proved to be the more sensitive.     

Overconfidence effects in category learning: a comparison of connectionist and exemplar memory models

Exemplar and connectionist models were compared on their ability to predict overconfidence effects in category learning data. In the standard task, participants learned to classify hypothetical patients with particular symptom patterns into disease categories and reported confidence judgments in the form of probabilities. The connectionist model asserts that classifications and confidence are based on the strength of learned associations between symptoms and diseases. The exemplar retrieval model (ERM) proposes that people learn by storing examples and that their judgments are often based on the first example they happen to retrieve. Experiments 1 and 2 established that overconfidence increases when the classification step of the process is bypassed. Experiments 2 and 3 showed that a direct instruction to retrieve many exemplars reduces overconfidence. Only the ERM predicted the major qualitative phenomena exhibited in these experiments.     

Beyond category sorting and pleasantness rating: Inducing relational and item-specific processing

In most studies of relational and item-specific processing, category sorting and pleasantness rating have been the main procedures used to induce these two types of processing. Because the two types of processing have been studied in a wide range of memory phenomena (Hunt & McDaniel, 1993), it is strange that other tasks have not been proposed and tested. The present experiment demonstrates that equivalent results can be obtained with three relational processing tasks (category sorting, narrative construction, and relational imagery) and equivalent results with three itemspecific processing tasks (pleasantness ratings, familiarity ratings, and single imagery).     

Base-rate effects in category learning: a comparison of parallel network and memory storage-retrieval models

Exemplar-memory and adaptive network models were compared in application to category learning data, with special attention to base rate effects on learning and transfer performance. Subjects classified symptom charts of hypothetical patients into disease categories, with informative feedback on learning trials and with the feedback either given or withheld on test trials that followed each fourth of the learning series. The network model proved notably accurate and uniformly superior to the exemplar model in accounting for the detailed course of learning; both the parallel, interactive aspect of the network model and its particular learning algorithm contribute to this superiority. During learning, subjects' performance reflected both category base rates and feature (symptom) probabilities in a nearly optimal manner, a result predicted by both models, though more accurately by the network model. However, under some test conditions, the data showed substantial base-rate neglect, in agreement with Gluck and Bower (1988b).     

Stimulus discriminability in the magnitude estimation and category rating of loudness

Thirty-three Ss made category ratings and magnitude estimations of 10 auditory stimuli differing in loudness. The results from each task were examined in terms of the response uncertainty conditional upon each stimulus. The results did not support the suggestion that category judgments are influenced by the relative discriminability of stimuli in a way which is not characteristic of magnitude estimates, but were found to be consistent with the subjective Standard hypothesis. It is argued that the observed quasi-logarithmic relationship between category scale and ratio scale values reflects the constraints placed upon responses in category rating tasks.     

A note on the relation between area and intensity in taste

Taste thresholds as a function of area previously published [Hara, 1955) are reanalyzed and found to be described better by the hyperbolic relation C×Aⁿ=k than an exponential equation. The exponent. n, and the constant, k, were found to differ among taste compounds.     

Prototypes in category learning: the effects of category size, category structure, and stimulus complexity

Although research in categorization has sometimes been motivated by prototype theory, recent studies have favored exemplar theory. However, some of these studies focused on small, poorly differentiated categories composed of simple, 4-dimensional stimuli. Some analyzed the aggregate data of entire groups. Some compared powerful multiplicative exemplar models to less powerful additive prototype models. Here, comparable prototype and exemplar models were fit to individual-participant data in 4 experiments that sampled category sets varying in size, level of category structure, and stimulus complexity (dimensionality). The prototype model always fit the observed data better than the exemplar model did. Prototype-based processes seemed especially relevant when participants learned categories that were larger or contained more complex stimuli.     

Investigating moral intensity with the world-wide web: A look at participant reactions and a comparison of methods

This paper reports the results of a vignette- and questionnaire-based research project over the World-Wide Web investigating the influence of moral intensity (MI) on decision making in a business context. A qualitative analysis of the feedback in terms of e-mail communications was used to provide insights into the reactions and responses of participants to both the research method and the topic of research. Implications are discussed, and some methodological recommendations are derived. Second, analysis of the quantitative results of the Web-based questionnaire administration indicated that three of the six MI components were particularly important determinants of several outcome variables. This pattern of results essentially replicated findings yielded by a previous mail administration of the survey, even though a smaller amount of variation in the outcome variables was accounted for. Neither occupational background nor the region of origin of participants measurably influenced the results.     

Context effects in lexical access: A meta-analysis

The modularity hypothesis was evaluated in this review of 25 studies that investigated context effects in early lexical processing. Selection criteria restricted the review to priming studies and to studies that presented the target word before or at the end of the prime word. Meta-analysis was used to provide summary information about the 17 studies in the review for which effect sizes could be calculated. Overall, the analysis revealed a small effect of context on lexical access. Results provide a disconfirmation of the modularity hypothesis; although multiple interpretations of a word were sometimes accessed, the contextually appropriate interpretation was consistently more strongly activated. The lack of significant heterogeneity of variance suggests that the variability observed across studies was due to sampling error; however, task, timing of target presentation, meaning frequency, type of target, and type of context were identified as potential moderator variables.     

Stimulus intensity,catch trial effects,and the speed-accuracy tradeoff in reaction time: A variable criterion theory interptation

Ss responded to a 1,000-Hz tone of 50, 80, or 100 dB. Catch trial conditions were none, blank trials, a red light, a noise, and an 1,800-Hz tone. Auditory catch signals were of the same intensities. RT distributions in the first three conditions were well described by a family of exponential growth functions dependent upon stimulus intensity and by the parameters of normal criterion distributions dependent upon catch trial conditions and between-session variability. Performance in the auditory catch trial conditions was not dependent upon the same set of sensory growth functions. Performance in these conditions was described by a two-dimensional analysis of information transmitted as a function of time and interpreted in terms of variable criterion theory. The speed-accuracy tradeoff in this situation appears to depend upon differential rates of growth of intensity and associative information and the criterion used in responding to this information.     

The dynamics of scaling: a memory-based anchor model of category rating and absolute identification

A memory-based scaling model--ANCHOR--is proposed and tested. The perceived magnitude of the target stimulus is compared with a set of anchors in memory. Anchor selection is probabilistic and sensitive to similarity, base-level strength, and recency. The winning anchor provides a reference point near the target and thereby converts the global scaling problem into a local comparison. An explicit correction strategy determines the final response. Two incremental learning mechanisms update the locations and base-level activations of the anchors. This gives rise to sequential, context, transfer, practice, and other dynamic effects. The scale unfolds as an adaptive map. A hierarchy of models is tested on a battery of quantitative measures from 2 experiments in absolute identification and category rating.     

The duration and perceived intensity of sucrose taste

Thirty-two subjects judged the perceived intensity of each of four concentrations of sucrose over 2 min. Stimuli were either sipped and expectorated or flowed over the subject’s extended tongue. Ratio judgments on a line scale and category ratings were made. Sixteen of the subjects had had extensive training in judging the sensory attributes of food products, and another group of 16 subjects were untrained. The perceived intensity of sucrose rose to a peak within 5 or 10 sec, and then declined over 2 min. In both the sip and the flow conditions, the taste disappeared completely for 26 of 32 subjects. Stronger concentrations were perceived as having greater peak intensities and longer lasting taste. The differences between concentrations were enhanced when sipped rather than flowed over the tongue. Judgments of intensity and duration were largely unaffected by the training level of subjects and the use of different rating scales.     

Magnitude production and magnitude estimation of taste intensity

Magnitude productions of sodium chloride (salty), quinine hydrochloride (bitter), and sucrose (sweet) yielded steeper psychophysical functions than those obtained with magnitude estimation. Hydrochloric acid (sour) produced the opposite effect. The results are discussed with respect to previous findings in taste intensity scaling and to general psychophysical considerations.     

A comparison of ranking and rating procedures for value system measurement

Compared the validity and reliability of 2 value measurement techniques. 296 Ss (161 females and 135 males) in introductory psychology filled out the 2 measurement techniques and an attitude survey. The Rokeach Value Survey instructed Ss to separately rank 2 sets of 18 values in order of importance. A rating version of the Value Survey instructed Ss to rate the same 36 values from 1 to 99. 236 Sreturned 6 weeks later and again filled out both measurement techniques. Results of the multimethod factor analysis indicate very good convergent validity among the 4 measures of a given value (2 techniques × 2 sessions) and very good discriminant validity between measures of different values. Probably due to the ipsative nature of the ranking procedure, the test-retest reliabilities were higher for the ranked measurements than for the rated measurements. The construct validity of both measurement techniques, as determined by multiple regression and analysis of variance, were similar. Despite criticisms of ranking procedures, both the ranked and the rated versions were of equal reliability and validity.