An empirical analysis of the super-latent inhibition effect

In three conditioned taste aversion experiments, we examined the roles of several variables in producing super-latent inhibition (LI). This effect, greater LI after a long interval than after a short interval between the conditioning and the test stages (De la Casa & Lubow, 2000), was shown to increase with the number of stimulus preexposures (0, 2, or 4; Experiment 1) and with the length of the delay interval (1, 7, 14, or 21 days; Experiment 2). Furthermore, super-LI was obtained when the delay interval was introduced between the conditioning and the test stages (Experiments 1 and 2), but not when it was introduced between the preexposure and the conditioning stages (Experiment 3). The results are discussed in relation to interference explanations of LI.     

An empirical study of item-test regression

Certain questions about the shape of item-test regressions are answered on the basis of data obtained from 103,275 examinees. Ten of the regressions obtained are shown in illustrative plots.This work was supported in part by the College Entrance Examination Board.     

An empirical study of the diathesis-stress theory of disease

One thousand, one hundred and twenty-one Jewish concentration camp survivors were compared with 367 Jewish controls who had not been in a concentration camp, and had not lost any family members in such a camp. Of interest was the mortality of camp and comparison groups, on the hypothesis that the stress of being in a camp would adversely affect inmates. It was found that former camp inmates were over twice as likely to die of cancer, coronary heart diesease, or other causes as the comparison subjects of similar age and sex composition, and that severity of stress was correlated with mortality in the expected direction. Diathesis, determined by means of a special interviewer-administrated questionnaire, was found to interact synergistically with stress in producing high mortality.     

An empirical study of the validity of handwriting analysis

The EPQ was administered to 99 Ss, and a handwriting sample provided by each. A professional graphologist undertook to analyse the handwritings, and fill in the EPQ as she thought would have been done by the respondents. Significant correlations were only obtained for the P category; neither E, nor N, nor the L scale showed significant correlations between Ss and the graphologist.     

An empirical study of the factor analysis stability hypothesis

Note is taken of four related sources of confusion as to the usefulness of Thurstone's factor analysis model and of their resolutions. One resolution uses Tucker's distinction between exploratory and confirmatory analyses. Eight analyses of two sets of data demonstrate the procedures and results of a confirmatory study with statistical tests of some, but not all, relevant hypotheses in an investigation of the stability (invariance) hypothesis. The empirical results provide estimates, as substitutes for unavailable sampling formulations, of effects of variation in diagonal values, in method of factoring, and in samples of cases. Implications of these results are discussed.The computational costs of this study were defrayed, in part, by a research small grant M-1922 from the National Institute of Health, and, in part, by support under project 176-0002 by the University of Iowa Computing Center, Dr. J. P. Dolch, Director. The assistance of Dr. Kern Dickman and Mr. Leonard Wevrick of the University of Illinois and of Mr. Norman Luther of the University of Iowa in handling the computing problems is gratefully acknowledged.     

An empirical study of medical termination of pregnancy

Several studies (Senturia and Rothman, 1967; Simon et al., 1969; Stewart et.al., 1973) have shown that therapeutic abortion may be accompanied by various psychological problems (e.g., psychiatric illness, confused sexual identity, sadomasochism). This study attempts to determine the personality characteristics, e.g., extraversion-introversion, neuroticism-stability and manifest anxiety of women who seek abortion and compare them with a control group. The Eysenk Personality Inventory and the Manifest Anxiety scale adapted by George (1965, 1974) were administered to 2 groups, the experimental group (n=50; mean age, 25.8) consisting of women seeking abortion, and the control group (n=30; mean age, 25.4 years; matched for age and socioeconomic status with the experimental). Mean values for extraversion-introversion, neuroticism-stability, and manifest anxiety for the experimental group were 11.08, 15.5 and 23.74 respectively. Corresponding figures for the control group were 11.00, 10.46, and 11.96 respectively. The results show that the experimental group differed significantly from the control group in the dimensions of neuroticism and manifest anxiety. No significant differences were found between the 2 groups in terms of extraversion. The stressful nature of pregnancy is briefly discussed.     

An empirical study of seriously disturbed suicidal patients

Aspects of unconscious processes in a group of seriously disturbed psychiatric patients are examined in an effort to predict near-lethal suicide attempts and explore psychoanalytic formulations of suicide. The Rorschach Inkblot Test, the most widely used projective measure in suicide research (Bongar 1991), was chosen for its potential to shed light on specific unconscious processes. Psychic states commonly associated with suicide were measured by psychoanalytic Rorschach analog scales and then subjected to a progression of statistical analyses in order to predict future occurrence and lethality of suicide attempts. On the basis of a priori hypotheses, the authors developed a suicide index comprising four psychoanalytic Rorschach signs that predicted, with considerable accuracy, which patients would later make near-lethal suicide attempts. The best predictors were unconscious processes indicative of penetrating affective overstimulation, disturbance in the capacity to maintain adequate ego boundaries, and depressive affective states characterized by a morbid preoccupation with death and inner decay. These findings provide empirical support for several well-known formulations of the unconscious motivations for suicide.     

An empirical study of the effect of heterogeneous within-groups variance upon certainF-tests of significance in analysis of variance

In the application of the analysis of variance to data obtained in educational methods experiments which involve several classes of several schools, one assumption is that of homogeneity in the variances of pupil scores from school to school. It is shown that such variances on representative educational achievement tests are heterogeneous. The effects of this heterogeneity upon theF-tests of significance commonly employed in methods experiments are investigated by comparing the actual distribution ofF values for a large number of experiments involving marked heterogeneity with a theoretical distribution based on the assumption of homogeneity. Although the findings, which vary somewhat with the type of variance ratio, are not entirely conclusive, they apparently demonstrate that departure from homogeneity does not invalidate the use of the customaryF-tests for evaluating results of the typical methods experiment.     

Briefe Deutscher Philosophen An Ernst Mach

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

An empirical study of occupational families in the youth labour market

This research aims at identifying job families for use in broadly based training for young people. A total of 455 job incumbents in the youth labour market were interviewed using the Job Components Inventory (JCI). The job sample was heterogeneous, reflecting a wide range of industries and job titles; some of these were skilled but mainly they were semi- and unskilled. The JCI covers the use of tools and equipment, physical and perceptual skills, mathematical requirements, communication, decision making and responsibility. Cluster analysis of items identified 36 skill components. These formed the basis for job-holder profiles, which in turn were grouped by hierarchical clustering. The optimal solution resulted in six clusters, the characteristics of which were described in terms of JCI component scores. The six clusters were labelled as clerical, skilled interpersonal, operative, unskilled manual, intermediate skilled technical and skilled technical. The stability of these six clusters was assessed using split-half replications. Results are discussed and evaluated in the context of contemporary youth training needs.     

The omega project: An empirical study of the NDE-prone personality

Seventy-four near-death experiencers (NDErs) and 54 persons interested in near-death experiences (NDEs) participated in a mail questionnaire survey to assess the role of psychological factors in influencing susceptibility to NDEs and to measure aftereffects stemming from such events. NDErs, while not more fantasy-prone than control subjects, reported greater sensitivity to nonordinary realities as children and a higher incidence of child abuse and trauma. NDErs also scored higher on a measure of psychological dissociation. We discuss the implications of these findings for the concept of an NDE-prone personality. In addition to substantial shifts in values and beliefs, NDErs described far more psychophysical changes, including symptoms of kundalini activation, following their NDEs than did controls. We then discuss the implications of these findings with respect to their possible significance for human transformation and the emergence of a more highly evolved human being, the Omega Prototype.At the time of this study, Mr. Rosing was a student at the University of Connecticut     

An empirical study of a logistic mental test model

A logistic model developed by Birnbaum was tested in two ways. First, plots of proportions of subjects in different score categories were examined for consistency with the assumption of a logistic trace line, and especially for departures from the logistic which seemed due to guessing in multiple choice items. The results showed that guessing seemed to have little effect. Second, an attempt was made to predict the obtained score distributions of samples of subjects on six tests from item parameters estimated on independent samples. The fits were good in all cases, despite considerable differences between the tests, and some extremely odd distributions.Thanks are due to the Educational Testing Service for the generous provision of the data upon which Part I of this study and the analysis of the two set I tests was based and to J. Lumsden for the data of the four set II tests. I would also like to thank F. M. Lord and A. Birnbaum for valuable help in the formulation and conduct of the study.At the University of Michigan 1964–65.     

The neurophenomenology of early psychosis: An integrative empirical study

BackgroundThe integration of various domains or levels of analysis (clinical, neurobiological, genetic, etc.) has been a challenge in schizophrenia research. A promising approach is to use the core phenomenological features of the disorder as an organising principle for other levels of analysis. Minimal self-disturbance (fragility in implicit first-person perspective, presence and agency) is emerging as a strong candidate to play this role. This approach was adopted in a previously described theoretical neurophenomenological model that proposed that source monitoring deficits and aberrant salience may be neurocognitive/neurobiological processes that correlate with minimal self-disturbance on the phenomenological level, together playing an aetiological role in the onset of schizophrenia spectrum disorders. The current paper presents full cross-sectional data from the first empirical test of this model.MethodsFifty ultra-high risk for psychosis patients, 39 first episode psychosis patients and 34 healthy controls were assessed with a variety of clinical measures, including the Examination of Anomalous Self-Experience (EASE), and neurocognitive and neurophysiological (EEG) measures of source monitoring deficits and aberrant salience.ResultsLinear regression indicated that source monitoring (composite score across neurocognitive and neurophysiological measures), with study group as an interaction term, explained 39.8% of the variance in EASE scores (R² = 0.41, F(3,85) = 14.78, p < 0.001), whereas aberrant salience (composite score) explained only 6% of the variance in EASE scores (R² = 0.06, F(3,85) = 1.44, p = 0.93). Aberrant salience measures were more strongly related to general psychopathology measures, particularly to positive psychotic symptoms, than to EASE scores.DiscussionA neurophenomenological model of minimal self-disturbance in schizophrenia spectrum disorders may need to be expanded from source monitoring deficits to encompass other relevant constructs such as temporal processing, intermodal/multisensory integration, and hierarchical predictive processing. The cross-sectional data reported here will be expanded with longitudinal analysis in subsequent reports. These data and other related recent research show an emerging picture of neuro-features of core phenomenological aspects of schizophrenia spectrum disorders beyond surface-level psychotic symptoms.     

Gender roles and care giving to the elderly: An empirical study

The purpose of this research was to examine care giving to the elderly from a gender role perspective. Data were collected from a randomized sample of Québec care givers (n=294) who provide various levels of care giving to people with different kinds of impairments. The results indicate that although women provide more care than men, both experience an equivalent burden. Familial obligations (Presence of a Spouse × Presence of Children) affect men and women care givers differently. An intersex generation effect is evident with regard to professional burden: husband care givers report a greater burden than wives, whereas daughters and sons report the same level. The findings suggest that men have more difficulty assuming responsibilities associated with multiple roles, whereas women have adopted new roles in addition to the traditionally ascribed care-giving role.The research reported in this paper is part of a study funded by the Conseil québécois de la recherche sociale, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and the Ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux. The authors wish to thank Jocelyne Boivin for her helpful work with the documentation and Lottie White for her help with the English version of this paper, as well as the anonymous reviewers of whose judicious comments were greatly appreciated.     

Selection of variables in exploratory factor analysis: An empirical comparison of a stepwise and traditional approach

The purpose of this study was to investigate and compare the performance of a stepwise variable selection algorithm to traditional exploratory factor analysis. The Monte Carlo study included six factors in the design; the number of common factors; the number of variables explained by the common factors; the magnitude of factor loadings; the number of variables not explained by the common factors; the type of anomaly evidenced by the poorly explained variables; and sample size. The performance of the methods was evaluated in terms of selection and pattern accuracy, and bias and root mean squared error of the structure coefficients. Results indicate that the stepwise algorithm was generally ineffective at excluding anomalous variables from the factor model. The poor selection accuracy of the stepwise approach suggests that it should be avoided.