ERICA– an instrument to measure individual and collective regulation of learning

IntroductionThis paper presents two studies that aimed at validating the Individual and Collective Regulation of Learning Scale – ERICA.ObjectiveThe scale was developed to measure learner perceptions of macro-level co-regulation strategies in conjunction with self-regulation strategies learners use.MethodStudies in two separate educational settings are presented. The first with undergraduate psychology students (n = 547) tested the factorial structure and reliability that confirmed its psychometric qualities. The second with undergraduate healthcare students (n = 191) provided for tests of convergent and discriminant validity.ResultsThe studies confirm a six-dimensional structure that stands up to tests of validity for structure, consistency and convergence.ConclusionThe scale is suitable for use in various educational contexts and environments with large cohorts to study perceptions learners have of the strategies learners use related to planning, monitoring, assessment and decision-making regulation phases.     

The “idealized individual” interpretation of individual differences in multidimensional scaling

It is shown that several variants of the Tucker-Messick points of view procedure are interpretable in terms of their idealized individual concepts. It is contended that the main function of the method is that it allows the computation ofseveral vectors of mean judgments instead of only one and that each of these may be used to stand for the actual judgments of a subgroup of subjects. Vectors that do not correspond to the judgments of any subjects are to be avoided. It is alleged that Ross's interpretation of points of view is quite different from that intended by Tucker and Messick.The preparation of this paper was supported in part by Contract Nonr-228(32) between the Office of Navel Research and the University of Southern California.     

Analysis of individual differences in multidimensional scaling via an n-way generalization of “Eckart-Young” decomposition

An individual differences model for multidimensional scaling is outlined in which individuals are assumed differentially to weight the several dimensions of a common “psychological space”. A corresponding method of analyzing similarities data is proposed, involving a generalization of “Eckart-Young analysis” to decomposition of three-way (or higher-way) tables. In the present case this decomposition is applied to a derived three-way table of scalar products between stimuli for individuals. This analysis yields a stimulus by dimensions coordinate matrix and a subjects by dimensions matrix of weights. This method is illustrated with data on auditory stimuli and on perception of nations.     

A robust method for measuring an individual’s sensitivity to facial expressions

This paper describes a method to measure the sensitivity of an individual to different facial expressions. It shows that individual participants are more sensitive to happy than to fearful expressions and that the differences are statistically significant using the model-comparison approach. Sensitivity is measured by asking participants to discriminate between an emotional facial expression and a neutral expression of the same face. The expression was diluted to different degrees by combining it in different proportions with the neutral expression using morphing software. Sensitivity is defined as measurement of the proportion of neutral expression in a stimulus required for participants to discriminate the emotional expression on 75% of presentations. Individuals could reliably discriminate happy expressions diluted with a greater proportion of the neutral expression compared with that required for discrimination of fearful expressions. This tells us that individual participants are more sensitive to happy compared with fearful expressions. Sensitivity is equivalent when measured on two different testing sessions, and greater sensitivity to happy expressions is maintained with short stimulus durations and stimuli generated using different morphing software. Increased sensitivity to happy compared with fear expressions was affected at smaller image sizes for some participants. Application of the approach for use with clinical populations, as well as understanding the relative contribution of perceptual processing and affective processing in facial expression recognition, is discussed.

     

The rationale for an “oblimax” method of transformation in factor analysis

Factorial transformation is viewed as an estimation problem in which the usual assumption of homogeneously distributed error cannot be applied, but may be replaced by a principle of maximum kurtosis. This leads to quartimax in the orthogonal case, and to oblimax in the oblique case. Oblimax is readily programmable, and typically provides results similar to those of subjective rotation. However, oblimax may encounter special difficulty in data which do not determine a simple structure, or which have been imprecisely factored.The Managing Editor has substituted the word transformation for the word rotation in the title and throughout this paper, on the grounds that oblique rotation is a self-contradictory term, the use of which need not be perpetuated.This paper is primarily a condensation of material that first appeared in ETS Research Bulletins 53-10 and 54-31, both long out of print. In this treatment the principle of maximum kurtosis receives increased emphasis, and the special case for equation (10) is recognized. The writer is indebted to his former colleagues, Mr. Charles Pinzka and Dr. Ledyard Tucker, for invaluable assistance in achieving a straightforward and general derivation of equation (10).     

Designing and evaluating an intelligent augmented reality system for assisting older adults’ medication management

Intelligent Assistive Systems (IASs) provide personalised support to individuals to increase their autonomy and competence in performing activities. The personalisation of such technology represents a particular challenge, for the individuals abilities typically change over time. The aim of this research was to explore a theory-based, activity-centred framework for the development of IASs that both facilitate the active involvement of caregivers and target users and allow for adaptation to the individual over time.Medication management was focused on as a case study. Three older adults and two caregivers were involved in a co-design process of an IAS prototype system, the MED-AR, which uses projection-based augmented reality as the user interface technology. The theoretical framework for the design and evaluation of the MED-AR was activity theory. For the decision-making process of the MED-AR, formal argumentation theory was used. The major contributions of the study are (i) a formal framework for understanding the level of independence in activities and the way an IAS can tailor support to an individual and a situation, including caregivers; and (ii) a model for involving older adults and caregivers in a co-design process in the first phases of developing IASs.     

The paired associate learning task: Is it an externally valid instrument for assessing methylphenidate response in children with attention deficit disorder?

The Paired Associate Learning Task (PAL-T) is a laboratory-based instrument commonly used for assessing psychostimulant response (and specifically cognitive nonresponse or toxicity) in children with Attention Deficit Disorder/Hyperactivity (ADDH). The present study examined the PAL-T's sensitivity in detecting overall and between-dose methylphenidate (MPH) effects, its operating characteristics, and its relationship with academic performance in 36 children with ADDH who underwent a placebo controlled trial of MPH at four dose levels. Children's PAL-T performance under active medication resembled but was uncorrelated with direct observations of their academic performance in the classroom. Negative predictive power (NPP) rates indicated that cognitive nonresponse to MPH did not portend a poor response in children's academic efficiency under identical dose conditions in the classroom. Clinical implications are discussed.The authors are grateful to the undergraduate and graduate student members of the Children's Learning Clinic who assisted with the conduct of this study.     

The Motivation for “Toward an African Moral Theory”

Abstract

Here I introduce the symposium issue of the South African Journal of Philosophy that is devoted to critically analysing my article “Toward an African Moral Theory.” In that article, I use the techniques of analytic moral philosophy to articulate and defend a moral theory that both is grounded on the values of peoples living in sub-Saharan Africa and differs from what is influential in contemporary Western ethics. Here, I not only present a précis of the article, but also provide a sketch of why I have undertaken the sort of project begun there, what I hope it will help to achieve, and how the contributors to the symposium principally question it.     

Unchartered lands in an age of “accountability”

Hallelujah! God Bless America! No one has these prices—Only Daniela High Fashion Dresses. High class merchandise at low low prices. 649 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10022. Business card of a Manhattan dress shop. By associating welfare provisions and other (selected) government interventions with socialism/communism and conversely the free enterprise system with loyalty, patriotism, the American Dream, the American way of life, the propagandists are doing no more than manipulating the appropriate Satanic and Sacred symbols. A. Carey,Taking the Risk Out of Democracy. Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness ... If the spirit of adventure beats within you, the Jeep Cherokee’s 4 liter, 6 cylinder engine and Selec-Trac 4WD are ready and willing to take you where you desire ... Happiness is not difficult to find in a Jeep Cherokee. Advertisement inThe Bulletin magazine. An early version of the paper was delivered at a joint seminar of the China University of Politics and Law, La Trobe University and the University of Melbourne, at La Trobe University, July 1996.     

λ-Normal forms in an intensional logic for English

Montague [7] translates English into a tensed intensional logic, an extension of the typed -calculus. We prove that each translation reduces to a formula without -applications, unique to within change of bound variable. The proof has two main steps. We first prove that translations of English phrases have the special property that arguments to functions are modally closed. We then show that formulas in which arguments are modally closed have a unique fully reduced -normal form. As a corollary, translations of English phrases are contained in a simply defined proper subclass of the formulas of the intensional logic.This research is supported in part by National Science Foundation Grant BNS 76-23840.     

Is an interest in computers or individual/team sports associated with adolescent psychiatric disorders?

The Internet plays a major role in adolescents' free time activities and communication nowadays. The aim here was to investigate the possibility of an association of computers and video games or sports (team, individual) with psychiatric disorders among underage psychiatric inpatients. The series of adolescents (n?=?508) had been diagnosed using semistructured interviews (K-SADS-PL). The results showed that an interest in computers and video games did not increase the risk of any specific psychiatric disorder among these adolescent inpatients, but the likelihood of a substance-related disorder was statistically significantly lower among the boys with computers as a hobby. Team sports were related to increased likelihood of conduct disorder among the boys, whereas the likelihood of an affective disorder was reduced. No such association was found in individual sports or among the girls. We conclude that social contacts and peers play an important role in preventing adolescent depression.     

New evidence for “closure” in perception

A new criterion of perceptual grouping (Gillam, 1972), namely, that contours appear to reverse together under conditions of depth ambiguity, was used to test for the reality of “closure” and explore the parameters determining its degree. It was found that contours which would form a closed space but for a linear gap were responded to as a unit to a degree which decreased monotonically with gap size. Neither “proximal” nor “distal” gap was found to be the sole determinant of closure. Several levels of processing appear to be involved.

     

Theorizing Gender for Experimental Game Theory: Experiments with “Sex Status” and “Merit Status” in an Asymmetric Game

In experimental game-theoretic research, to the extent that sex has been considered at all, the approach has been to focus on the individual level of analysis. This paper reports the results of experiments designed to focus on sex/gender and to expand the level of analysis to include the institutional level. An asymmetric game was designed such that players in the male and female institutional locations had 3 and 2 alternatives, respectively. Players earned the institutional locations based on a test, so that top and bottom scorers respectively merited the 3- and 2-alternatives locations. Game-theoretic understandings of sex-of-player were compared to the expectations states theory concept of sex status; that is, men expect and are expected to perform more competently than women. Results indicated that top-scorer men and women behave similarly; bottom-scorer men resist their low merit status (behaving the most rationally of all player groups); bottom-scorer women accept their low merit status (behaving the most irrationally of all player groups). Whereas game theory cannot provide a coherent understanding of these findings, the concept of sex status helps to interpret the behavior of all four player groups and shows how judgments about rationality and irrationality depend critically on the interpretive framework used.     

Dyadic Influence in an “ESP Study” and TAT Measures of the Needs for Influence and Power

Ss “received ESP impressions” of the five standard ESP card symbols, for 100 trials. They were then randomly paired with same-sex Ss and asked to reach agreement on whatever disagreements existed on the first 50 trials. All Ss had previously taken a modified TAT, scored for the needs for Influence (n Influence) and Power (n Power). Ss with high n Influence prevailed significantly more often on the first disagreement, on disagreements during the first 25 trials, and over all 50 trials. N Power correlated only slightly with losses during the first 25 trials. Results were consistent with viewing n Influence as an interpersonal competence motive. N Power was apparently not engaged by the dyadic situation and its rewards.     

Conceptualizing “Prayer” for an East–West Dialogue and Beyond

Early in the American psychology of religion, prayer was a central topic, emphasizing the “self” (James in Varieties of religious experience. Longmans, Green, New York, 1902) and social activity (Strong in The psychology of prayer. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1909). These writings, and contemporary efforts as well, typically conceptualize prayer as a theistically directed activity of communication, locating the work firmly in Western faith traditions. While this orientation captures a portion of the practice within those traditions, it is difficult to carry that definition over into comparative studies with Eastern practices. The present paper explores alternative ways to think about prayer and analogous activities that may facilitate an East–West dialogue. In addition, non-theistic formulations may help extend the conversation to encompass the spiritual practices of people not associated with any sort of traditionally bounded belief system.     

Explanations for “understating” in self-reported speeding behaviour

Self-report is a valuable methodology of social research, especially in regard to offending behaviour on and off the road. While assessing the validity of self-report is rarely easy, taking objective measures of drivers' speed choice behaviour does provide an opportunity to assess the correlation with subjective measures. Noting studies where this has been possible, research carried out by the author and colleagues in England which allowed similar assessments is discussed. Significant correlations resulted between reported and observed speed in all six surveys comprising the research, but they were of a low order. Analysis of the data showed a consistent and systematic bias towards drivers travelling above the 30 mph speed limit reporting their normal speeds as lower than those observed, with those travelling below the 30 mph speed limit reporting their speeds as higher than those observed. These patterns are discussed in light of other studies which have found tendencies either to overstate or to understate, and the possibilities that drivers either have difficulty reporting accurately or choose not to do so. Psychophysical limitations on accuracy of self-report and the social and cognitive processes that could mediate them are considered. In particular, the notion that drivers may seek to comply with normative speeds, and that these can be perceived as safer than complying with posted limits are discussed in light of normal police practice to tolerate low margins of excess speed.